The death of an employee is a difficult time for any business. Grieving co-workers, loss of productivity, and finding and training a replacement are just a few of the factors a business will need to deal with, but one area that is often mishandled is the treatment of wages and payroll. How payroll is handled is all about timing, and I can break it down into three distinct parts. Part 1 – Wages earned and paid prior to the death For wages paid to the employee prior to the death, where the payroll check remains uncashed, a stop payment should…
By; Rhonda Bunker Director of Sales In the event you aren’t a football fan, the NFL draft just happened. The time of year when coaches and owners are all vying for the same players. You know the ones, the Heisman Trophy winners, the players who could take out a semi truck, the guys who run faster than gazelles. Those are the guys every team wants. The guys who look good on paper, the ones who have gotten the job done in college. It’s probably similar to the strategies you use when picking the right candidates to join your teams. Have…
I guess you can’t say we did not warn you. One day after our posting of the new Overtime Regulation coming, it is signed into law taking effect on December 1st, 2016. On Tuesday, May 17, 2016, the Department of Labor published its long-awaited final rule updating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime regulations. The most material changes relate to the minimum salary you must pay to exempt employees, which is discussed in more detail below. For full details, be sure you read the previous article “Are You Ready?” The new regulation increases the salary test to $913 per week ($47,476 year),…
By: Matthew N. Thibaut, Esq. Employment Law Practice Group CIKLIN LUBITZ & O’CONNELL The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is an extremely technical statute that was enacted in 1938, which is the federal law providing employees overtime protection. Under the FLSA, an employee in the United States is entitled to receive 1.5x their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 unless they are exempt. The most common exemptions are the executive, professional and administrative exemptions, also referred to as the “white collar” exemptions. These exemptions are not determined by occupation, job title or classification, but rather by a two-part test: (1) duties test and (2)…
To pay Weekly or Biweekly (or some other frequency), that is the question. The US Department of Labor (DOL) does not specify any sort of frequency in which employees should be paid minimum wages or the overtime compensation it calls for. Instead the language states that “Wages required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are due on the regular payday for the pay period covered.” While this seems vague, the DOL takes this principal seriously. For example, if an employee fails to record time worked or submit a timesheet, and the employer is aware that work was performed, the…
This has been an interesting week in the world of information security. On Tuesday, Brian Krebs blog site, KrebsOnSecurity, posted an article detailing how a number of self service accounts were hijacked from ADP. In short, due to a weak registration process and a far too lackadaisical approach to stale accounts (i.e., accounts that were never activated by employees) on ADP’s part, as well as the inadvertent posting of sensitive registration codes on the part of a number of clients including a large commercial bank, U.S. Bancorp, victimizers were able make self service accounts for a considerable number of dormant accounts. In turn, the intruders used…
Going paperless. Some do it to save the environment, some do it to save money, and some do it to save time. No matter what the reason, there are some things to consider when it comes to the payroll process and the payroll check. While the “check” itself becomes obsolete as many individuals go on direct deposit, it is always attached to a check stub, or as we call it, a pay statement, a detail of the employee’s wages, deductions withheld, taxes withheld, and sometimes other important information. According to the United States Department of Labor, the Fair Labor Standards Act…
Late last year, Congress passed what is titled the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015. This past week, the IRS issued Notice 2016-22 which provides guidance and Transition Relief for employers claiming the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). If you are not familiar with the WOTC, it is a tax incentive for employers to hire and retain individuals from specific target groups. The groups include certain Veterans, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, Food Stamp recipients, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients, Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Referred Individuals, Ex-Felons, Summer Youth employees, and effective January 1st, 2016, there is…
Reciprocal agreements relieve employees who work and live in different states from the double burden of paying taxes in both states, requiring payment only to their home state. If any of your employees are subject to reciprocal agreements, you can help them out by withholding income tax for their state of residency. How Reciprocal Agreements Work Many states that impose an income tax have entered into reciprocal agreements. For example, Kentucky has reciprocal agreements with Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Residents of any of those states working in Kentucky are exempt from Kentucky income tax, and would pay and file income…
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandates that all employers who have more than ten employees are required to comply with the posting requirements of work related injuries. This posting is known as the OSHA 300 Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses, and includes a summary of the previous year’s log of serious injiries. This information is important for employers, workers, and OSHA in evaluating the safety of a workplace, understanding industry hazards, and implementing worker protections to reduce and eliminate hazards. The due date for this posting is February 1st, 2016 for the year 2015, and it must…